Last November, I [Re]Introduced Ultra v3 which introduced a bunch of new features. Today, I’m happy to share what’s changed in Ultra over the past year.

Since my last update, I’ve implemented the following features in Ultra:

• Many new styling features enabled by continued MapLibre updates
• Sprite support updates
• A new Overpass/OSM XML&JSON-to-GeoJSON conversion library
• More basemap styles & style previews
• More export options
• Transforms
• More providers
• An “Open with Ultra” bookmarklet

🌍 MapLibre updates

In January of 2025, Ultra updated to the freshly released MapLibre v5, introducing globe support! View Example

Since then, further MapLibre changes have enabled a host of new styling features including:

• color-relief styling from raster DEM sources
• Data-driven line-dasharray support
• Improved font support
• New hillshade methods

📍 Sprites

I’ve added two sprite-related features to facilitate map styling:

SVG Support

… See full entry

As a principle, I’ve always tried to use open-source software over proprietary software for any of my digital needs. I’ve personally found open source to be both more accurate and more sensible to use than proprietary alternatives.

One of the very few aspects of my life that had still not adopted open source was maps. I always used both Waze and Google Maps for everything. But whenever I looked at the maps, it felt like something was missing. I looked around, checked the environment, and realized how much of my surroundings simply wasn’t reflected on the screen.

I wanted to fix it, but… Google Maps doesn’t allow you to just add things. And while Waze does have an editor, it’s extremely locked down for the average user. So, I looked up online alternatives.

I discovered OpenStreetMap two months ago, and I found myself in awe of the sheer amount of detail… Far more than Google Maps or Waze could offer. It just so happened that I was on a trip to Barcelona, and I was using CoMaps to navigate. Using CoMaps proved extremely reliable, especially for public transportation. I never missed a metro, I found all my destinations quickly, and it was very easy to get around.

Still riding the Barcelona high, I opened CoMaps back at home and was fairly shocked to see that my neighborhood didn’t exist at all… Where the heck is it?!

So, I got on my computer, logged into OpenStreetMap for the first time, and started using the iD editor. In just a few hours, the rough outline of my neighborhood was there.

Soon enough, I found myself mapping for hours. Even during lectures, I’d have an OSM tab open for casual mapping. Then it escalated. I started bringing my laptop everywhere I traveled to map things on the go. I began using StreetComplete to add missing metadata. I took pictures and videos. Then I started recording GPS traces. And now I’m even considering setting up a full LiDAR mapping mount for my car…

… See full entry

OSMWrapped is a fun tool that visualizes your personal OpenStreetMap (OSM) mapping statistics — including edits made, countries mapped, and active mapping days.

Today I’m celebrating one full year of mapping every single day! 🎉🥳

Grateful for the OSM community and the joy of contributing, one edit at a time.

Cheers!

93/93

আজ আমি আমার স্থানীয় এলাকা নাগা বাজার OpenStreetMap–এ যুক্ত করেছি। এটি একটি গুরুত্বপূর্ণ স্থান, কারণ নাগা বাজারের আশেপাশের জনগণ দৈনন্দিন জীবনযাপনের জন্য এই স্থানটি ব্যবহার করে।

নাগা বাজারের বিশেষত্ব হলো এটি তিনটি গুরুত্বপূর্ণ সড়কের সংযোগস্থল। এই সড়কগুলো হলো:

নাগা বাজার – মুলিভিটা সড়ক

নাগা বাজার – বীরকুৎসা সড়ক

নাগা বাজার – ভবানিগঞ্জ সড়ক

এই তিনটি সড়ক এলাকার মানুষকে একে অপরের সাথে সহজেই সংযুক্ত করছে এবং স্থানীয় বাণিজ্য ও যোগাযোগে গুরুত্বপূর্ণ ভূমিকা পালন করে। আমি OpenStreetMap–এ নাগা বাজার যুক্ত করার সময় এ সমস্ত সড়ক ও এলাকাসহ বিস্তারিত তথ্য দিয়ে কাজ করেছি।

এটি আমার ব্যক্তিগত ডায়রিতে সংরক্ষণের জন্য একটি গুরুত্বপূর্ণ অর্জন। OpenStreetMap–এ স্থান যুক্ত করার মাধ্যমে স্থানীয়দের জন্য তথ্য সহজলভ্য হবে এবং ভবিষ্যতে মানচিত্র ব্যবহার ও রাস্তাপথ পরিকল্পনায় সহায়ক হবে।

নাগা বাজারের সঠিক স্থান, ল্যাটিটিউড ও লংগিটিউড, এবং সংযুক্ত সড়কগুলো OpenStreetMap–এ উল্লেখ করার মাধ্যমে স্থানটি আরও বেশি কার্যকরভাবে চিহ্নিত হয়েছে। এই কাজ আমার জন্য শিক্ষণীয় এবং এলাকার ডিজিটাল নথিপত্র তৈরিতে সহায়ক হয়েছে।

So, as it turns out, Mapmas is best-effort. ;)

I came down with something Thursday night, and I’m just now starting to feel sufficiently decent. I housed 3/8 of a pizza last night, which means my appetite is back. I mostly took it easy, but I did have a little energy to start tracing out a lot of Mechanicsburg, Virginia, United States, which was posted a few days ago on the Unmapped Small Town USA Mastodon account.

Appalachia is beautiful: rolling mountains, verdant woods, small houses and farms dotting the countryside. I’ve had the privilege of traveling through Virginia and West Virginia in the past, and it’s even more gorgeous in person. Lush tree coverage, though, does make it a little challenging to trace buildings when imagery is from spring/summer, so that was tough at times. I’ve noticed the houses in the region are also more likely to have tight corners, or a roof line that turns and then juts out a half meter or so, which can look like slight distortion on imagery, but is actually part of the geometry. I took some liberties, but I did my best!

I also struggled with finding independent sources for things like street names. It looks like Virginia state highways use the same numbers across the state, but are disjoint, and correspond to different local roads in different areas. So State Route 653 in Bland County, for example, is Osborne Drive in Mechanicsburg. This particular fact shows up in a VDOT report from 2017, I think (I’d need to source it again), which I believe is okay to use? I’m not entirely sure, though, so I left it for now. Copyright law is obnoxious.

Anyway, it’s nice to be able to sit and map from home when you can’t go outside. It was fun to spend some time in Mechanicsburg and get to know the area a bit.

Onward and mapward!

One OSM-related activity I spend lots of time on is micromapping recreational areas, such as parks. Manually detailing out areas is satisfying, but I’ve also been on the lookout for ways to put my programming skills to use.

A common pattern I noticed in these areas is representing a block of pitches or courts (such as tennis courts) as a single, abnormally large “tennis court”.

It’s a start, but obviously could use some refining. Each individual court could be represented by a separate area. While this probably needs no justifications, I’ll provide a few since I’d like to convince myself I’m working on improvements that might mean something to someone, rather than just creating data because it gives me dopamine:

• Independent courts allow for better querying: we can ask questions like “how many tennis courts are in my city?” and get an accurate answer.
• Some renderers (like openstreetmap.fr) render various courts with appropriate marking lines, allowing quick identification.

… See full entry

(Writing a short stub in case i forget it again)

Estonian mappers may have already noticed how this year Land Board’s imagery is still missing. Previously new orthophotos were captured in March-April, preliminary release was in May-June and TMS layers were available in OSM editors by around September, then this year there are no images.

Turns out on 31st of March 2025 someone filed a complaint to Chancellor of Justice, that their garden hose can be identified on the imagery. On 27th of November chancellor’s response was published and public broadcaster published few small news:

• EST: https://www.err.ee/1609869541/oiguskantsler-palub-kaaluda-kaardirakenduste-eraelulist-detailsust
• EST: https://www.err.ee/1609870686/maa-ja-ruumiamet-plaanib-geoportaali-andmeid-uldisemaks-muuta
• ENG: https://news.err.ee/1609869930/land-and-spatial-board-to-make-publicly-available-map-data-less-detailed
• Original source documents:
  • EST PDF: https://www.oiguskantsler.ee/sites/default/files/2025-11/Orto-%20ja%20kaldaerofotode%20avalikustamine.pdf
  • Sample images: https://adr.rik.ee/okk/dokument/18175002 (asice is basically zip file, you’d need digidoc4 to open it).
    • Mirror at Land Board’s registry: https://adr.envir.ee/et/document.html?id=8c7c0dd4-17c5-463b-a00c-57c6019ea8d8
  • Original complaint (restricted access): https://adr.rik.ee/okk/dokument/16914665
  • § 26 of constitution which according to chancellor prohibits aerial images: https://www.riigiteataja.ee/en/eli/ee/521052015001/consolide/current#para26

Why this matters to OSM?

At least 90% of OSM’s data originates from Land Board’s imagery, either through imports or via usual imagery tracing. Esri and Bing are also using using Land Board’s data for Estonia.

… See full entry

Today, i wear a T-shirt printed with Medan’s road network, based on OpenStreetMap data.

Every time i glanced down at those tangled lines, a quiet curiosity crept in. I kept wondering who mapped this exact line segment I’m looking at right now, which contributor traced it, corrected it, or patiently aligned it to reality. It’s a strange and comforting thought, carrying a small piece of someone else’s mapping work on fabric, a reminder that this map is made of countless individual moments of care.

তারিখ: 21.12.2025 স্থান: Naga Bazar, Bagmara, Rajshahi

আজ আমি OpenStreetMap (OSM)-এ “Naga Bazar–Bhobanigonj Road” যুক্ত করেছি। এই সড়কটি নাগা বাজার থেকে ভোবানীগঞ্জ পর্যন্ত বিস্তৃত এবং এলাকার মানুষজন দৈনন্দিন চলাচল, বাজারে যাতায়াত এবং কৃষি পণ্য পরিবহনের জন্য ব্যবহার করে।

আমি সড়কটি OSM-এ যোগ করার সময় ঠিক নাম, অবস্থান এবং রাস্তার ধরন উল্লেখ করেছি। এছাড়া, Description বক্সে সংক্ষিপ্তভাবে লিখেছি সড়কের গুরুত্ব এবং স্থানীয় ব্যবহার। Changeset comment-এ উল্লেখ করেছি যে এটি স্থানীয় সংযোগ রাস্তা।

এই কাজটি করতে গিয়ে বুঝতে পারলাম যে OSM-এ স্থান সংযোজন শুধু মানচিত্রে দেখানোর জন্য নয়, বরং তথ্যকে ডিজিটালভাবে সংরক্ষণ ও বিশ্বের সাথে সংযুক্ত করার একটি মাধ্যম।

আমি আশা করি ভবিষ্যতে আরও রাস্তা, বাজার এবং স্থানীয় এলাকা OSM-এ যোগ করে আমার এলাকার তথ্যসমৃদ্ধ মানচিত্র তৈরি করতে পারব।

Irpavi 2 South Route

The city of La Paz, Bolivia, has the Puma Katari public transportation service, which covers the 9 macro districts and is currently deployed through 10 routes. Since its launch, this service has been a great promise, offering benefits such as preferential treatment for people with disabilities, children and the elderly, in addition to allowing the transport of bicycles in the front compartments of the buses, thus encouraging the use of this means of transportation. ecological. We are often traveling to different places in the city to carry out our field work. We know that some visitors or even people who know about this transportation service face difficulties because they do not know which route to take or where the stops are, especially when trying to reach peripheral areas.

… See full entry

Over the past year, I made a lot of contributions to Regina’s OSM. Since snow has made surveying difficult, I felt a retrospective on those contributions were a good idea. Many edits came through the StreetComplete app, though more intensive projects have called for desktop editing. Creating a separate network for sidewalks and starting to make indoor maps for a couple buildings are the items I’m most excited about. The changes made to the Regina Wiki page on OSM were pretty large but hopefully will give a good overview of where active mapping projects are at. Creating a wiki page for Regina Transit will hopefully help to make updates to it easier to coordinate.

You can read more on my blog post here: https://www.malleyeno.com/Blog/Winter-Retrospective-2025—OpenStreetMap-for-Regina

In the ancient days, OSM was much simpler. You had the streets and roads. A crossing was considered a barrier along the way for road users (i.e. cars), so one would place a node with https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Tag:highway=crossing where the crosswalk is located. The routeplanner would apply a time penalty, the rendering engine shows a little icon, and done.

With an extra attribute (namely crossing_ref) a more precise type and the type of markings was indicated.

Then, someone figured out they could also shove in information about the traffic signals. This kind of works for simple crossings, but breaks down for bigger intersections. https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Tag:crossing=unmarked, https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Tag:crossing=uncontrolled and https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Tag:crossing=controlled were added. And https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Tag:crossing=zebra, cause zebra crossings are so common. And https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Tag:crossing=marked, which was almost, but not quite, entirely unlike ~~tea~~ https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Tag:crossing=uncontrolled.

In the mean time, people started mapping cycleways and sidewalks/footways separately, giving rise to a second way of tagging crossings: along the way; as https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Tag:highway=footway with https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Tag:footway=crossing.

Some ported over the traffic signal metadata over on the way, as they were used to doing on a node. Others starting mapping the traffic lights separately, often as barrier at the precise location where the pedestrian/cyclist/car driver has to wait.

This gives the potential of having the traffic light metadata on three separate locations:

1) Once on the point where the road and the footway meet 2) Once on the footway, marked with crossing 3) Once on the traffic light node on the footway

In other words, the current tagging is a clusterfuck.

Why do I care?

… See full entry

Place: Nor Yungas, Yolosa, Bolivia – Senda Verde Animal Shelter

Senda Verde is a refuge dedicated to the rehabilitation and protection of wildlife in the Amazon rainforest of Bolivia. Unlike a conventional tourist destination, its main mission is to provide care and rehabilitation to rescued animals, many of which have been victims of illegal wildlife trafficking, mistreatment in captivity, or have been affected by the burning of their habitats. Although it welcomes visitors to support its operations, educate, and raise awareness about conservation, Senda Verde primarily focuses on animal welfare and promoting responsible wildlife practices.

Illegal wildlife trafficking consists of the illicit commercialization of wild species that are stolen from their natural habitats. In Bolivia, alarming cases of illegal wildlife trafficking have begun to occupy a prominent place on the media agenda.

Senda Verde Wildlife Sanctuary is a charity dedicated to improving the lives of rescued native Bolivian wildlife by providing medical care, food, and housing. Their mission is to save and protect rescued wild animals from cruelty and suffering, as well as to inspire people to care for wildlife.

… See full entry

রাজশাহী জেলার বাগমারা উপজেলার যোগীপাড়া ইউনিয়নের কাতিলা গ্রামে অবস্থিত নাগা বাজার–মুলিভিটা সংযোগ সড়কটি মাঠপর্যায়ের তথ্য ও স্থানীয় জ্ঞানের ভিত্তিতে মানচিত্রে সংযোজন করা হয়েছে।

আজ আমি OpenStreetMap-এ নাগা বাজার এলাকায় “Naga Vila” নামে একটি আবাসিক বাড়ি যোগ করেছি। লোকাল জ্ঞানের ভিত্তিতে building=house ট্যাগ ব্যবহার করে পয়েন্ট হিসেবে ম্যাপ করা হয়েছে।এতে এলাকার আবাসিক ম্যাপিং আরও সঠিক হবে।

Last night, I added Arbela, MO, and some geometry in the immediate vicinity. It’s the next village west of Granger, MO.

Today, I did a quick walk for a GPS trace, and then I came home and added some more geometry around Arbela. Unfortunately, I managed to get JOSM into a bad state before uploading, and I decided to start this evening’s changes over again. Alas. It’s almost bedtime, but I was able to redo the buildings and the driveways I’d done before. The water will have to wait until tomorrow.

Merry Mapmas!

আজ OpenStreetMap-এ আমার একটি নতুন অবদান যোগ করেছি। নাগা বাজার এলাকায় অবস্থিত “Naga Bazar Shopping and Service Centre” মানচিত্রে যুক্ত করা হয়েছে। এই স্থাপনাটি স্থানীয়ভাবে পরিচিত একটি শপিং ও সেবা কেন্দ্র, যা আগে মানচিত্রে উল্লেখিত ছিল না।

এই তথ্যটি আমি স্থানীয় জ্ঞান ও পর্যবেক্ষণের ভিত্তিতে যোগ করেছি এবং ভবিষ্যতে আশপাশের অন্যান্য গুরুত্বপূর্ণ স্থান ও সড়কের তথ্য যাচাই করে ধাপে ধাপে যুক্ত করার পরিকল্পনা রয়েছে। অভিজ্ঞ ম্যাপারদের যেকোনো পরামর্শ বা সংশোধনকে স্বাগত জানাই।

Content removed by author

We haven’t had a London pub meet-up in a while. I probably could’ve organised something, but got waylaid by Dundee, and preparing a talk for Dundee, and recovering from all the excitement of Dundee. But of course we need to squeeze a pub meet-up before Christmas…

The Xmas OSMLondon pub meet-up is TONIGHT!

Dundee? I mean State Of The Map EU in Dundee of course. Great fun was had by me.

Here’s me at the kick off session, not quite managing to do my usual mega-cheerful grin, because I had to get up a bit too early off the sleeper train. More of a normal smile. And I’ve slapped some photos on instagram.

• Day 1 fun
• Day 1 sessions
• Day 2 fun
• Day 2 sessions

Instagram isn’t a proper way to do these things, but they’re not really proper photos. Just my crappy snaps. The official photographer shots will appear somewhere better I hope. Maybe the wikimedia commons category. OK I’ll photobomb that with one of mine :-)

… See full entry

I’m kicking myself for not celebrating Mapmas, since I apparently signed up on December 1st. :) Alas.

Well, I’m retconning it, so Merry Mapmas 2025! I know, the staunch Anglicans in the crowd would (rightfully) say: “But shouldn’t it be Mapvent?” And they would be right! But I’ve already typed the title and these two paragraphs, so on we go!

Remote work

I added Granger, MO last night and this morning. It’s the next village to the west after Luray, MO, which the delightful UnmappedSmallTownUSA bot posted the other day. Someone had already done Luray, but there are several municipalities nearby that are unmapped, and Granger was the first one I saw.

This was my first time adding an entire place, and from imagery, too. Some of the buildings were skewed, so I had to trace roof outlines and then position them correctly to correspond to where they ought to actually be. Granger is also quite wooded, and there were areas where I wasn’t sure if it should count as natural=wood or not. I used my best judgement there.

There might be one or two structures or ponds outside of the official Granger boundary that I’ve missed, so I’m going to check on that tonight or tomorrow. Then, I’ll map Arbela, another village directly west of Granger.

I’ve really enjoyed getting out in the sun and mapping stuff in my own community, but it was nice and zen to hang out with a friend late last night and trace buildings and ponds in Granger.

In-office

I took a couple GPS traces today. Old Towne Orange in particular is missing most of its sidewalks, it seems. Once I convince myself that I’m not going to misplace a bunch of them, I plan to add them in, with appropriate crossings and such. While still doing doorbells. And I should add some more fire hydrants soon… There really aren’t enough hours in the day heh. If only I could get paid to wander around town all day mapping things. That might actually be the dream.

Merry Mapmas!